Minutes 01/02/05 – 13/02/05
Transport for London

Minutes of a meeting of the Board
held on Wednesday 9 February, commencing at 11.30am
in the Chamber, City Hall, the Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA

Present:

Board Members:	Ken Livingstone, Chair		David Begg
			Stephen Glaister			Kirsten Hearn						Meg Hillier				Sir Mike Hodgkinson
			Susan Kramer			Paul Moore
			Sir Gulam Noon			Patrick O’Keeffe
			John Ormerod			Tony West							Dave Wetzel

Special Advisers:	Lord Toby Harris			Bryan Heiser			
			Murziline Parchment		Lynn Sloman

Observer:		Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor

TfL Officers:		Maggie Bellis, Managing Director, Corporate Services
			Ian Brown, Managing Director, London Rail
			Stephen Critchley, Chief Finance Officer
			Mary Hardy, Director of Internal Audit
Peter Hendy, Managing Director, Surface Transport
			Bob Kiley, Commissioner
Betty Morgan, Head of TfL Legal
			Tim O’Toole, Managing Director, London Underground
	Ben Plowden, Managing Director, Group Communications
Fiona Smith, General Counsel
Valerie Todd, Director of Group Equality and Inclusion
Jay Walder, Managing Director, Finance and Planning
Michele Dix, Director, Congestion Charging (min. no. 06/02/05)
Malcolm Murray-Clark, Director, Congestion Charging (min. no. 06/02/05/)
Hugh Sumner, Project Director Olympic Bid Team (min. no. 09/02/05)
			
Secretary:		Louisa Sherry

		ACTION	
01/02/05	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE		
			
	Apologies were received from Honor Chapman.		
			
02/02/05	MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING		
			
	The minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2004 were AGREED and signed by the Chair as an accurate record.		
			
03/02/05	MATTERS ARISING		
			
	There were no matters arising.		
			
04/02/05	COMMISSIONER’S REPORT		
			
	A number of points were raised on the Commissioner’s Report:		
			
	DfT Rail Review - work needs to progress quickly on fares to avoid unnecessary confusion about where Oyster Cards can be used.		
			
	Thames Gateway Bridge - the calling-in of this project by the ODPM will cause a delay to works to enable the Public Inquiry to be held.		
			
	West London Tram - the report on the outcomes of the consultation will be published soon.		
			
	Bus Fares – free travel for under 16 year olds will be rolled out in the summer.  This will be followed by an evaluation and based on the results of that evaluation, rolled out to under 18 year olds thereafter.		
			
	Following discussion, the Board NOTED the report.		
			
05/02/05	3RD QUARTER FINANCE & PERFORMANCE REPORT		
			
	The Board considered the 3rd quarter finance and performance report.  		
			
	Members discussed whether there was a link between increased bus patronage, increased journeys on the Underground and the reduction in killed and serious injuries on the road. Peter Hendy advised that the most cost effective means of reducing road accidents is by installing road safety cameras; an issue the Mayor had raised with the Secretary of State for Transport, as the DfT had currently embargoed additional staff for Safety Camera Partnerships..  	

	
			
	Jay Walder agreed to review and update figures on modal shift.   Peter Hendy agreed to review whether there is a link between increased public transport usage and the reduction in killed and serious injuries on London’s roads and report back to the Board.	Jay Walder
Peter Hendy

	Members also considered the workforce composition figures and agreed that there is a need for a further discussion at the next meeting on progressing diversity with the organisation.	Valerie Todd	
			
	Following discussion, the Board NOTED the report.		

			
06/02/05	CONGESTION CHARGING – WESTERN EXTENSION		
			
	Members discussed the paper which provided an update on the current scheme, the various consultation exercises underway and the procurement of services to set up and operate a westward extension should the Mayor decide to proceed following consultation.  The main points raised during the discussion were:		
			
	•	concern about what impact the Western Extension would have on small retailers;
•	what consideration had been given to the White City development; and
•	support for the new technology trials.		
			
	In response, Michele Dix advised members that in a recent survey about the Western Extension, only 7% of respondents had driven to the shops and the majority of those were residents in the local area.  A feasibility study had been carried out to determine the benefits or otherwise of including White City in the zone, but the conclusion had been to omit it.		
			
	Following this discussion the Board:

•	NOTED the current level of service provision and performance, the public consultations on Variation Orders 4 and 5, the preliminary consultation with key stakeholders on the proposed western extension and current work and possible options for the future of road charging.  

•	NOTED that the aggregate value of the “package” of contracts which go to make up the contractual framework for the proposed western extension may exceed £100 million.

•	APPROVED in principle the entering into of the “package” of contracts required to implement the proposed western extension and authorised the Commissioner, Managing Director, Surface Transport or the Directors of Congestion Charging, to award contracts to whichever bidders offer best overall value for money (where contracts are subject to a competitive tender) and agree the final terms of the contracts (where contracts are subject to negotiation) and enter into such contracts on behalf of TfL.   It was further NOTED that a satisfactory conclusion had been reached with Capita and that the details of the Supplemental Agreement for the proposed western extension would be made public in due course.		

		
07/02/05	TAXI FARES AND TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE LICENCE FEES		
			
	During discussion of this paper, members touched on the perceived lack of work for taxi drivers in central London and the need for more drivers late at night.   Bryan Heiser requested a paper on door-to-door fares for a future meeting.	Peter Hendy/ Valerie Todd	
			
	Following discussion, the Board APPROVED the proposed taxi fares and the making of a London Cab Order, to be signed by the Commissioner to implement the new fares from 2 April 2005 and to make clear that the fares are to be treated as a maximum.  The Board also APPROVED licence fee revisions and changes to be implemented from 1 April 2005.  		
			
08/02/05	A406 NORTH CIRCULAR ROAD – BOUNDS GREEN		
			
	Peter Hendy introduced the paper by confirming that the decision to be taken related to the A406 at Bounds Green and reminded members of the history of this project which was first brought to the Board’s attention in October 2003.  He confirmed that submissions for future funding of the inherited schemes were included in the TfL 2004/5 Business Plan.  Although the Government provided an improved settlement and prudential borrowing powers for TfL over the next five years, funding for TfL’s full capital programme was not provided and TfL, therefore, had to consider how best to prioritise its resources in light of the outcome of SR2004.  		
			
	The inherited scheme at Bounds Green had an estimated cost of £266m and a benefit/cost ratio of 0.18.  The proposed safety and environmental improvement scheme had an estimated cost of £25.4m and a benefit/cost ratio of 10.17 making it significantly better value for money than the inherited scheme.		
			
	Peter Hendy confirmed that the Boroughs had been consulted on the present proposal and drew members’ attention to the letters received from the Boroughs detailing their representations and TfL’s responses to those representations, all of which were attached to the Board paper.		
			
	The Mayor advised the Board that he had held a productive meeting with the Boroughs where it was still apparent that they would prefer a more substantial scheme.  However, he was clear that the proposed smaller safety and environmental improvement scheme will provide positive benefits for residents and road users.  		
			
	The Mayor confirmed that he had given assurances to the Boroughs that TfL will not dispose of land that would prevent TfL pursuing an intermediate scheme at Bounds Green in the future, subject to funding.  The Mayor also confirmed that he would ask TfL to review the surplus property related to the Bounds Green scheme to ascertain its suitability for the ODPM’s first time buyers’ initiative.		
			
	The Mayor also undertook to write to  the Commissioner setting out what he had agreed with the Boroughs.	Ken Livingstone	
			
	Following discussions, the Board APPROVED:

•	that the inherited scheme for the A406 North Circular Road at Bounds Green should not be progressed at this time;

•	that a predominantly dual 2-lane safety and environmental improvement scheme with widened at-grade junctions should be progressed at Bounds Green and that this would be similar to that submitted for consultation in June 2002 but to a slightly wider footprint to make better provision for buses, pedestrians and environmental treatment and by enabling greater junction efficiency, to attract rat-running traffic in the corridor back to the main road;

•	that the surplus properties at Bounds Green should be disposed of and a request made for safeguarding to be amended to that required for the safety and environmental improvement scheme;		
			
	•	that additional properties required for the smaller safety and environmental improvement scheme at Bounds Green should be acquired by negotiation but that the Board agrees in principle that TfL should make a Compulsory Purchase Order in case negotiations fail.  The final decision to make, amend and implement any Compulsory Purchase Order (including the settling of the detailed boundaries of the land to be acquired) will be taken by the Managing Director, Surface Transport;

•	that TfL should engage with the relevant local Councils and community on the design and implementation of the smaller safety and environmental improvement scheme for the A406 at Bounds Green; and

•	that further consideration will be given to options for improvement at Regent’s Park Road and Golders Green Road.		
			
09/02/05	OLYMPICS UPDATE 		
			
	Hugh Sumner gave an interesting presentation outlining TfLs support for the bid and the format of the forthcoming International Olympic Committee’s Evaluation Commission visit.		
			
	The Commissioner expressed his thanks to Hugh Sumner for the excellent way in which he has represented TfL and other transport efforts in their work on the Olympic Bid.		

		
10/02/05	REPORT FROM FINANCE COMMITTEE		
			
	The Board NOTED the report which set out the matters discussed at the Finance Committee held on 20 January 2005.		
			
11/02/05	REPORT FROM AUDIT COMMITTEE		
			
	The Board NOTED the report which set out the matters discussed at the Audit Committee held on 25 January 2005.		
			
12/02/05	DOCUMENTS SEALED ON BEHALF OF TFL		
			
	The Board NOTED the documents sealed on behalf of TfL between 18 November 2004 and 25 January 2005.		
			
13/02/05	ANY OTHER BUSINESS		
			
	Prudential Indicators
The Board APPROVED the re-worded “Maturity Structure of Borrowing” Prudential Indicator which had been requested by the Finance Committee to improve the clarity of the specific PI.		
			
	There being no further business, the meeting closed at 12.20pm.		

__________________________

CHAIR